The body in the library: "A beautiful spring morning is marred when the corpse of a platinum blonde is discovered in the library of Gossington Hall, home of Colonel and Mrs. Bantry.". A murder is announced: "When an intriguing ad in the Chipping Cleghorn paper invites the villagers to witness a murder one evening at Miss Blacklock's home, everyone turns out in force expecting a new kind of party game. At the appointed hour the lights go out, three shots are heard and a body slumps to the floor. It is no longer a game.". A pocketful of rye: "The body of Rex Fortescue, the patriarch of a loathsome family of financiers, is discovered with a handful of rye in his pocket. Soon afterwards, his young wife, Adele, dies following a light tea with bread and honey. As the clues grow more and more bizarre, only the murderer and Miss Marple seem able to recall their nursery rhymes.".